Alumna Shows the Different Faces of Art

She will show work throughout Art Basel; her gallery will feature artist Jessie Gold

Posted 11.01.10 by MICA communications

For Naomi Fisher, one artistic technique is not enough to tell an entire story. "In school I was a photo major but painting has always been a big part of my life," said the 1998 MICA graduate and Miami native.

Each has its merits, she explained. For her, "photography is about capturing something that is more rooted in reality, and painting tends to be about things that are more idea-based-taking you to a place that's less about a reality you can see or walk into." These days, Fisher is also experimenting with video. "A lot of the work has involved collaborations with dancers and performers so video was the logical next step," she said.

When she's not working on her own art, the 33-year-old is managing a gallery--the Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI), which she opened in 2004 in Miami's Design District. "I was lucky to start showing pretty early in my career," Fisher recalled. "We ended up getting this incredible studio through a generous collector, Craig Robbins, here in Miami. It was way bigger than we needed as a space, and we had so many friends whose work we admired, so we decided to take all the extra room we had in our studio and set up an exhibition space."

During Art Basel, the gallery will be hosting a show featuring multimedia artist Jessie Gold. Fisher is also awaiting confi rmation on a couple of personal projects she hopes will be on display for Art Basel.

In the meantime, Fisher said she looks forward to her work being featured at Miami's Fredric Snitzer Gallery in October. The show, titled Myakka, will be part of a larger collection of photos and videos Fisher shot at Myakka State Park in Florida thanks to a grant she received from the Knight Foundation to film work in nature. For this project, she went out to the state park for about 13 days with a crew of 10 plus fi ve performers, she said.

Fisher credits MICA for exposing her to different modes of art, but also for showing her that she could make a living as a working artist. "Growing up, there are so many myths about the impossibility of actually being an artist," she said. "The fact that I've been able to do that and support myself is pretty incredible."